MAY 24, 1928

No one in Philadelphia that day could have foreseen its significance.

For one thing, there was no baseball Hall of Fame yet.

But if you had attended the first game of a New York Yankees-Philadelphia A’s doubleheader 71 years ago today you would have seen what is believed to be the only time in baseball history that 11 future Hall of Famers played in the same game.

Leading off for the Yankees that day was Earle Combs, who went three for four. Babe Ruth batted third and had a single. Lou Gehrig was one for five. Hitting sixth, Tony Lazzeri had three singles in five at-bats.

For Philadelphia, right fielder Ty Cobb, hitting second, had two doubles in six at-bats. Center fielder Tris Speaker, hitting third, was one for four. Catcher Mickey Cochrane, in the No. 5 spot, had a triple and two singles.

Pinch-hitting for Philadelphia were Al Simmons, Eddie Collins and 20-year-old Jimmie Foxx. Lefty Grove was the losing pitcher.

The Yankees won, 9-7. Philadelphia won the second game, 5-2, but with a less stellar lineup. Simmons, Grove, Collins and Foxx didn’t play.

Footnote: Cobb and Ruth were in the first Hall of Fame induction class, in 1936.

Also on this date: In 1935, President Franklin Delano Roosevelt flipped a switch in the White House and turned on the lights at Cincinnati’s Crosley Field. In the major leagues’ first night game, the Reds beat Philadelphia, 2-1, before 20,422. . . . In 1920, in the wake of the 1919 World Series gambling scandal, police disguised as farmers, sailors and soldiers arrested 24 Wrigley Field fans in the bleachers on gambling charges. . . . In 1936, the Yankees’ Tony Lazzeri, batting eighth, hit three home runs--two of them grand slams--and a two-run triple at Philadelphia. His 11 runs batted in is still the one-game American League record.